Dorothy Tucker checked off a number of her goals during her NABJ presidency despite challenges posed by the pandemic.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Tucker, a CBS 2 Chicago investigative reporter, bested Gregory Lee Jr. and Marlon A. Walker in 2019 to become NABJ\u2019s 22nd president<\/a>. Since then, she\u2019s worked to connect NABJ members and ensure that Black journalists are being treated fairly in their newsrooms, among other objectives. <\/p>\n\n\n\n As she seeks reelection this year, her tenure is being scrutinized by NABJ voters, who must choose between her or NABJ-Philadelphia\u2019s Manuel Smith to be president until 2023. If Tucker is successful, she would be the second person, after Sarah Glover, to hold two terms<\/a> as NABJ president.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI want to say thank you to our members for being patient, for being understanding [and] for continuing to engage with this organization,\u201d Tucker said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Before Tucker became president, she served as NABJ vice president of broadcast and director of Region V, a now-defunct region that covered South Central states. When Tucker first ran two years ago, her campaign promises included increasing training webinar offerings, creating a report card to grade media companies on their hiring, promotion, and retention of Black journalists, and offering more hardship scholarships.<\/p>\n\n\n\n During Tucker\u2019s presidency, the number of webinars tripled, which included sexual harassment sensitivity and LGBTQ+ sensitivity trainings.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWe’d have a webinar about networking and becoming the next manager and hundreds would flock to it,\u201d Tucker said. \u201cIt showed me that despite the fact that we could not physically see each other, we still wanted to be engaged.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n In the wake of the pandemic, Tucker introduced the organization\u2019s COVID-19 hardship relief grants, which provided no-strings-attached funds to NABJ members negatively affected financially. <\/p>\n\n\n\n NABJ avoided a potential financial crisis through Tucker\u2019s leadership as the association carefully transitioned from an in-person to its first-ever virtual convention in 2020. The money saved allowed the association to escape its years-long financial deficit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThere were other organizations that did not survive, but we are financially stronger than ever before,\u201d Tucker said. \u201cWe are the envy of the journalism world.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Under Tucker\u2019s leadership, the association also announced the launch of the NABJ Media Network<\/a> in conjunction with the Reynolds Journalism Institute. The project is set to be NABJ\u2019s first-ever digital news platform, which will allow Black journalists to cover Black communities through articles, videos, and photos. The network will debut after NABJ\u2019s 2021 national convention.<\/p>\n\n\n\n![\"\"](\"http:\/\/www.nabjmonitor.com\/2022\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/Tucker-reelection-pics-dot-in-birmingham.jpeg\")
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